Performance implications of assembly work teams

This paper explores the role of selected workforce management practices in developing mix, volume, and product flexibility. Using a model of a manually-paced assembly area, we examine three workforce management practices – the configuration of work teams, the extent of cross training, and the deployment of workers – that have the potential to enhance the level of manufacturing flexibility. We examine the effects of these practices at the level of the individual operation and individual worker, with the goal of maximizing overall system performance in a variety of manufacturing environments. Our results indicate that the value of workforce flexibility is contingent upon characteristics of the operating environment. Environments having high levels of product variety call for the use of a larger number of parallel work teams, while environments with highly complex tasks tend to require a smaller number of parallel teams. Further, the value of cross training and worker task sharing is diminished as work tasks become more complex, due to learning and forgetting effects on the workforce. The overall implications is that more worker flexibility does always yield improved system performance.